ABUSE TRACKER

MINNESOTA
WDAZ

By: Victor Correa, WDAZ

The Diocese of Crookston is facing more allegations of child sexual abuse, this time on various reservations in Minnesota and South Dakota.

At a news conference Thursday attorney Jeff Anderson announced a lawsuit on behalf of a victim being identified only as Doe 19.

Father J. Vincent Fitzgerald is being accused of sexually abusing children on White Earth, Leech Lake, and Lake Travers reservations. Doe 19 claims father Fitzgerald sexually abused him when he was eight or nine years old in 1984 on the White Earth Indian reservation in Naytahwaush, MN. At that time Doe 19 was Fitzgerald’s 4th victim. While Fitzgerald is now deceased, Anderson is taking action against the Diocese of Crookston, claiming Fitzgeral’s abuse was known but rather than having him removed he was instead relocated.

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MINNESOTA
Grand Forks Herald

By: Stephen J. Lee, Grand Forks Herald

CROOKSTON — A member of the White Earth Band of Chippewa sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Crookston Thursday, alleging a priest working under the diocese’s authority sexually abused him when he was 8 and 9 years old on the White Earth Indian Reservation.

Jeff Anderson, the St. Paul attorney who has won hundreds of millions of dollars suing Catholic dioceses in sex abuse cases the past 20 years, held a news conference at the Polk County Courthouse in Crookston where the lawsuit was filed Thursday.

He said he has information that the Rev. J. Vincent Fitzgerald, who died in 2009, sexually abused at least four young people from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s while serving as a priest on Indian reservations in South Dakota and Minnesota.

The four victims include two within the Crookston diocese: a boy on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation near Bemidji in the 1970s and “John Doe 19” at White Earth in the mid-1980s. He also has information that Fitzgerald sexually abused two youths in the 1960s in South Dakota, Anderson said.

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RHODE ISLAND/CONNECTICUT
Patch

Posted by Elizabeth McNamara (Editor) , November 21, 2013

When victims of sexual abuse by priests gathered this week in Providence, at least two of them were there because of abuse they say they suffered while growing up in East Greenwich.

Helen McGonigle lived on Dale Hill Drive from 1967 to 1973 and was abused by Fr. Brendan Symth, who was serving at Our Lady of Mercy during those years. Jeffrey Thomas, who grew up nearby to McGonigle, was also sexually abused by Smyth.

Smyth, who was convicted of 141 cases of sexual assault in Ireland, died in an Irish prison in 1994. His story is well known in Ireland and the U.K. but remains much less so here in Rhode Island. The Catholic Diocese of Providence does not release information about Smyth.

McGonigle and Thomas were in Providence on Wednesday in support of victims of more recent abuse. In particular, they were protesting the Catholic Diocese of Providence’s failure to report more than 800 cases of sexual abuse to the R.I. State Police in the past 20 years.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Scott Theisen

A Minnesota man who claims he was abused by a priest on the White Earth Indian Reservation is suing the Diocese of Crookston and the priest’s religious order.

The man is identified in the lawsuit as Doe 19. He claims he was 8 or 9 years old when a priest at St. Anne’s in Naytahwaush sexually abused him in 1984. The priest wasn’t criminally charged. He died in 2009.

The lawsuit says the priest was accused of molesting three children before going to St. Anne’s. It says the Crookston Diocese and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, United States Province religious order should’ve known he was dangerous.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio
November 21, 2013

MOORHEAD, Minn. — A lawsuit filed Thursday against the Catholic diocese of Crookston, Minn., and a Catholic missionary organization alleges sexual abuse of children by a priest.

The Rev. James Vincent Fitzgerald was transferred to the White Earth Reservation in 1984 and soon after abused an eight- or nine-year-old boy, according to the lawsuit. Fitzgerald died in 2009.

The defendants knew about a pattern of abuse and failed to stop it, attorney Jeff Anderson said. “We’re really seeking a public disclosure and revelation of secrets that have long been kept and hoping to get the Catholic bishops in all the dioceses in Minnesota to come clean and become both transparent and do outreach,” he said.

There are allegations of sexual abuse against Fitzgerald dating to the 1960s, Anderson added.

The lawsuit was filed against the Catholic Diocese of Crookston and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a Catholic missionary organization. Its missionaries began working on Minnesota American Indian reservations in 1923 and continue today, according to the order’s website.

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MINNESOTA
KTTC

[Doe 19 Summons and Complaint
Fitzgerald Timeline
Doe 19 Statement
2010 S.D. Complaint
J. Vincent Fitzgerald Photo]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A Minnesota man who claims he was abused by a priest on the White Earth Indian Reservation is suing the Diocese of Crookston and the priest’s religious order.

The man is identified in the lawsuit as Doe 19. He claims he was 8 or 9 years old when a priest at St. Anne’s in Naytahwaush sexually abused him in 1984. The priest wasn’t criminally charged. He died in 2009.

The lawsuit says the priest was accused of molesting three children before going to St. Anne’s. It says the Crookston Diocese and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, United States Province religious order should’ve known he was dangerous.

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MINNESOTA
Crookston Times

[Doe 19 Summons and Complaint
Fitzgerald Timeline
Doe 19 Statement
2010 S.D. Complaint
J. Vincent Fitzgerald Photo]

There will be a press conference Thursday in Crookston in regards to another civil suit to be filed under the Child Victims Act, this time involving sexual abuse on a reservation.

The announcement involves the White Earth Indian Reservation in Naytahwaush on behalf of a man who attended St. Ann’s Parish. This lawsuit, again, names the Diocese of Crookston, alleging negligence in placing the accused Father J. Vincent Fitzgerald in parishes and communities where he had access to children even after learning that he was a child molester.

This is the first time that Fitzgerald’s name has been publicly released in Minnesota.

He allegedly abused children on three reservations, including orphaned children on the Lake Traverse Reservation, as part of the Sisseton, South Dakota Indian Mission. Fitzgerald is deceased and held positions in the Diocese of Duluth, Diocese of Crookston, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and others in Illinois, Oregon, Missouri, and South Dakota.

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IOWA
Ottumwa Courier

By MATT MILNER
Courier staff writer

PELLA — Iowa’s Court of Appeals has granted a former Pella pastor a new trial, saying the district court erred.

Patrick Edouard was pastor of Covenant Reformed Church in Pella. He was convicted of multiple counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor after four women from his congregation accused him of engaging in sexual acts. Edouard’s defense said he was not a “counselor or therapist,” providing mental health services, and thus could not be guilty of the exploitation charges. He admitted to engaging in sexual conduct with the women.

Iowa law defines a counselor or therapist as anyone “who provides or purports to provide mental health services.” That can include members of the clergy. But critical terms in the law are undefined, including “treatment,” “assessment” and “counseling.”

A previous ruling from the Iowa Supreme Court held that “strictly personal relationships involving the informal exchange of advice,” did not constitute the counseling role needed for the charge. The district court didn’t include the definition of counseling from that decision in jury instructions, though, and the appeals court says that was a mistake that abused the district court’s discretion.

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IOWA
Seattle PI

By RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press
Published 9:38 am, Wednesday, November 20, 2013

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa pastor accused of sexually preying on female members of his congregation was improperly convicted of sexual exploitation and must receive a new trial, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The Iowa Court of Appeals overturned a verdict that found Patrick Edouard, former pastor at Covenant Reform Church in Pella, guilty of four counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor and one count of having a pattern or scheme to sexually exploit. An improper jury instruction undermined Edouard’s defense in which he admitted to sexual conduct with the women but denied acting as their counselor, the court ruled.

Edouard, 44, has been free on bond while appealing his conviction, which was returned by a Dallas County jury last year. Under the sentence vacated Wednesday, he would have faced up to five years in prison and, upon release, a 10-year mandatory term of supervision as a sex offender.

The Iowa Attorney General’s Office, which has assisted Marion County in prosecuting the case, will ask the Iowa Supreme Court to review Wednesday’s decision to reinstate the conviction and sentence, spokesman Geoff Greenwood said. But justices do not have to review the 3-0 ruling.

If the ruling stands, prosecutors would need to decide whether to retry him. At any retrial, the appeals court said that an expert witness that would help Edouard’s defense must be allowed to testify after being unfairly excluded from the first.

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IOWA
Des Moines Register

Written by
Grant Rodgers

A former Pella pastor who admitted in court that he had sexual contact with four parishioners will get a new trial, the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.

After a 10-day trial, Patrick Edouard, 44, was convicted in August 2012 of four counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist and one count of pattern, practice or scheme to engage in sexual exploitation.

Edouard was charged after four parishioners of the Covenant Reformed Church in Pella reported that he had “repeatedly engaged in sex acts with them,” court papers said.

The court’s decision further erodes the sexual exploitation statute that was meant to protect potential victims, said Elizabeth Barnhill, executive director of the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault. It could now be time for the Iowa lawmakers to review and strengthen the statute, she said.

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CANADA
Nunatsiaq Online

DAVID MURPHY

Sometimes it’s hard just to walk through the courtroom door, let alone describe in detail the traumas of childhood.

Muttering profanities outside the door and then hiding her face inside a hoodie as she passed Eric Dejaeger — the man accused by dozen of witnesses of child sexual assault in Igloolik from 1978 to 1982 — the next in a long line of witnesses for the prosecution took the stand at the Nunavut Court of Justice Nov. 20.

Avoiding all eye contact, the woman, 36, sat down and looked left, away from Dejaeger and his lawyer, Malcolm Kempt.

“I don’t want to say his name,” she said when Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss asked who she worked for at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in Igloolik.

Dejaeger, a Belgian-born Oblate missionary who became a Canadian citizen in the 1970s, has already served a five-year prison sentence imposed in 1990 after he was found guilty of sex crimes which occurred in Baker Lake between 1982 and 1989.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Editorial Staff | Nov. 21, 2013

EDITORIAL Thirty-seven percent of male clergy of various faith traditions report Internet pornography as “being a current struggle,” and 57 percent of that group report compulsive Internet pornography use, according to a paper, “The Internet and Pornography,” delivered during a 2012 symposium on clergy sexual abuse sponsored by the Vatican at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Representatives of 110 national bishops’ conferences and 30 religious orders attended that symposium.

“The most significant signs of this vulnerability are issues related to loneliness and isolation, the lack of self-care, higher expectations of themselves, entitlement, and lack of education about this aspect of the Internet,” the paper said.

The paper notes that research on clergy and pornography use is too scant to make wide generalizations, and that no research on Roman Catholic clergy could be found, but initial impressions from the research that is available support a need for more study and seem “to suggest that clergy in the Roman Catholic Church will need better training and education on this issue.”

In July 2011, the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, commonly called the Dallas Charter, was updated to include child pornography in its definition of sexual abuse against a minor, a change necessitated by a similar change in canon law. The latest annual audit of diocesan compliance with the Dallas Charter found in the audit period (July 2011 to June 2102) that five clerics were removed from ministry solely because of allegations of possession of child pornography. That was about 2 percent of all allegations, but pornography is involved in a much higher percentage of all cases of sexual abuse of a minor by clergy.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: RICHARD MERYHEW , Star Tribune Updated: November 20, 2013

Al Michaud gives a voice to outrage with Catholic Church.

Al Michaud couldn’t believe the reaction.

He had just told the Rev. Kevin McDonough, the vicar general of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, that he’d been molested as a teen by a local Catholic priest. McDonough pulled out the priest’s file, Michaud recalled, and began to cry.

The Rev. Jerome Kern had allegedly groped and fondled at least two boys nearly a decade before he had molested Michaud in a pool at the St. Paul Seminary, and the archdiocese had a file on it. As a visibly shaken McDonough apologized, he told Michaud to give him a few weeks to take action on Kern, who was still in the ministry. “I thought I had an ally,” Michaud said.

But when Michaud called two weeks later, he remembers a completely different tone. He said McDonough acted as though he didn’t remember the conversation and told Michaud to pursue the case through other channels.

Michaud was stunned then. He’s even angrier now.

Two decades after that meeting and nearly 37 years after Kern sexually assaulted him, Michaud wants justice — and a face-to-face explanation.

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Ciudad de México – La Procuraduría General de Justicia de Querétaro (PGJE) detuvo al sacerdote católico Arturo Méndez Camacho, quien es acusado de abuso de menores.

De acuerdo con reportes de la prensa local, el clérigo fue capturado ayer por la noche cuando salía de la iglesia de San Antoñito, ubicada en la capital del estado, tras oficiar una misa.

No está claro cuántas son las acusaciones en su contra. Se habla en plural, es decir: podría tratarse de más de un caso de abuso.

Según la prensa local, el cura detenido fue muy cercano al Papa Juan Pablo II. Él mismo, y sus cercanos, lo habrían referido así durante mucho tiempo; Méndez Camacho cumplió 30 años “de sacerdocio” y el evento fue ampliamente difundido por diarios locales.

El sacerdote estudió Derecho Canónico en Roma, Italia. Fue ordenado sacerdote en 1983 por el entonces obispo de Querétaro, Alfonso Toris Cobián, en la iglesia de San Francisco de Asís, en la comunidad de La Llave.

Ayer mismo, la Diócesis de Querétaro emitió un comunicado en el informa que Méndez Camacho será separado de sus funciones para que se investiguen los hechos.

Expresa su confianza en que se aplique la ley  “con justicia, y se llegue a la verdad”.

“Sus abogados darán mayor información sobre los hechos y  proceso legal que se sigue. En este momento el sacerdote no ejercerá su oficio”, dice el boletín.

“Creemos en el estado de derecho, y en la aplicación justa de las leyes. Pedimos a Dios se llegue a la verdad ante este hecho doloroso”, expresa la Diócesis.

México, con una de las mayores poblaciones de católicos, figura entre los países en donde más abusos sexuales han cometido los sacerdotes católicos.

En México, por ejemplo, el cura Marcial Maciel Degollado fundó la Legión de Cristo; no fue sino hasta hace algunos años que se dio a conocer que abusaba sexualmente de menores.

Durante años fue protegido tanto por autoridades religiosas como civiles.

En 2009 se supo que el cura era padre de una joven española. Los legionarios así lo informaron a través de un comunicado, en febrero de 2010.

Aunque Maciel Degollado fue considerado un depredador sexual –violó niños y tuvo relaciones prolongadas con varias mujeres–, pero jamás pisó la cárcel.

Murió en Estados Unidos, sin perder su estatus dentro de la iglesia católica.

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CANADA
Bay Today

IQALUIT, Nunavut – A witness at the trial of a former priest accused of sex abuse against children in the Arctic has testified that he used to pluck her out of a group of playing children and rape her.

She told an Iqaluit court that Eric Dejaeger (deh’-YAY’-guhr) would take her to a dark corner of a room in the church building where her friends were colouring pictures.

She said the one-time Oblate missionary used to fondle her and force her to do the same to him.

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MAINE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

He allegedly shared porn with children
Wisconsin police are investigating the case
And Catholic officials say it could be a felony
Victims group calls for outreach to “victims, witnesses & whistleblowers”

For immediate release: Thursday Nov 21, 2013

For more information: David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com

A priest who worked at a Portland Catholic church for a decade has been suspended from his job in Wisconsin and is being investigated by police for “questionable use of Facebook.”

Milwaukee archdiocesan officials say the allegations “would likely result in a felony charge.” A parishioner says the cleric is “accused of using his Facebook account to share pornography, primarily with adults, but occasionally with minors.”

[Kenosha News]

Fr. Ireneusz Chodakowski allegedly rebuffed a parish employee’s requests that he “make changes in the video content of his Facebook account,” apparently to prevent minors from seeing “pornographic images [Chodakowski] was distributing.”

From 1998-2009, Fr. Chodakowski headed St. Louis Catholic church in Portland. According to a church website, he was reportedly also assigned to work at a Catholic school in Thomson, Connecticut.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

And new allegations made in clergy sex case
Amended lawsuit includes alarming details
A second top archdiocesan staffer is named
Carlson intended to foil civil lawsuit, it says

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will announce that a judge is letting a high profile clergy sex abuse case – charging recent child sex crimes and cover ups by Catholic officials – move ahead. They will also disclose that “disturbing” new details about the case are filed in a new court filing, including

–20 new paragraphs about the abuse and top church officials involvement in it,
–a new “count” or charge against St. Louis’ archbishop (“spoilation”), and
–the name of a new bishop – not linked to the case before – who sent the priest to the victim.

It also includes new allegations, not made before, including that Archbishop Robert Carlson

–called the accused priest “often while the priest was in the victim’s home,”
–gave the accused priest permission to perform mass at the victim’s home,
–received a complaint that the accused was babysitting the victim’s siblings,
–ordered a church investigation into the complaint,
–told the priest to stay away from the family “until the investigation cleared him,”
–intentionally tried to “disrupt or defeat” a potential lawsuit, and
–“chose to avoid controversy” and “the result was harm to the victim.”

WHEN:
TODAY, Thursday, November 21 at 2:30 pm

WHERE:
On the sidewalk in front of the “new” Cathedral at 4431 Lindell (at Newstead) in the CWE

WHO:
Four to five people who are concerned Catholics or members of a support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)

WHY:
Earlier this month, Archbishop Robert Carlson tried to have one of the most shocking clergy sex abuse and cover ups lawsuits tossed out of court. But on Tuesday, in a two page order, Judge Chris Kunza Mennemeyer decided that the case will go forward. It involves repeated child sex crimes against a teenager (as recently as last year) by a cleric very close to Carlson, Fr. Joseph Jiang.

[BishopAccountability.org]

Now, that lawsuit has been amended to include new charges and some unusual details, including that Bishop Robert Herman instructed Fr. Jiang to go to plaintiff’s home to pray over the family. (Herman has never been named in connection to this suit before.)

The amended suit also accuses Carlson of intentionally trying to “disrupt or defeat” a potential lawsuit by trying to get the victim’s parents to give him a $20,000 check that Fr. Jiang had left them. (Carlson’s move indicates “fraud and a desire to suppress the truth,” the suit says.)

Other new information and/or charges include that Fr. Jiang

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Crookston Press Conference Thursday
First civil suit to be filed under Child Victims Act involving sexual abuse on a reservation
Father J. Vincent Fitzgerald sexually abused children on White Earth, Leech Lake and Lake Traverse Reservations in Minnesota and South Dakota
Defendants include the Diocese of Crookston and Oblates of Mary Immaculate

What: At a news conference Thursday in the lobby of the Polk County Courthouse in Crookston, Lonna Hunter, a passionate advocate for Native children and sexual abuse attorney Jeff Anderson will:

• Announce the filing of a sexual abuse lawsuit on behalf a man, Doe 19, who was abused by Father J. Vincent Fitzgerald at St. Ann’s Parish in Naytawaush, Minnesota, on the White Earth Indian Reservation. The lawsuit names the Diocese of Crookston, and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate alleging they were negligent in placing Fitzgerald in parishes and communities where he had access to children even after learning that Fitzgerald was a child molester.
• Request the release of names of credibly accused and admitted child molesters from the Diocese of Crookston. This is the first time Fitzgerald’s name has been publicly released in Minnesota.
• Notify sexual abuse survivors who experienced abuse on any reservation in Minnesota that the Child Victims Act may be able to help them achieve healing and justice. Fitzgerald allegedly abused children on all three reservations, including orphaned children on the Lake Traverse Reservation as part of the Sisseton, South Dakota Indian Mission.

WHEN: Thursday November 21, 2013 at 1:00PM CST

WHERE: Inside the Crookston Courthouse
1200 Memorial Drive
Crookston, MN 56716

WHO: Lonna Hunter, an advocate for Native children who has worked tirelessly for policy and effective responses to institutional child sexual abuse. She previously worked with the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition and is currently the program coordinator the federal Office of Victims of Crime project, the Minnesota Network Legal Services for Victims of Crime at the Council on Crime and Justice. Attorney Jeff Anderson, is a St. Paul, Minnesota based attorney who, through the civil justice system, advocates nationwide for sexual abuse survivors.

Notes:
• Copies of the documents and complaint will be available at www.andersonadvocates.com.
• Fitzgerald is deceased and held positions in the Diocese of Duluth, Diocese of Crookston, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Diocese of Springfield (IL), Diocese of Belleville (IL), Diocese of Sioux Falls, Archdiocese of Portland (OR) and the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau (MO).

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Cell: 612.817.8665 Office: 651.237.5143
Lonna Hunter: Cell: 651.442.3253

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

Take the Survey Now

In preparation for the Extraordinary Synod on the Family to be held 5th – 19th October 2014, the Vatican has asked national bishops’ conferences around the world to seek the opinions of Catholics on a number of church teachings including contraception, same-sex marriage and divorce.

Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Vatican’s Synod of Bishops, asked the bishops’ conferences to commence a survey “immediately as widely as possible to deaneries and parishes so that input from local sources can be received.”

We are aware that the Vatican document is difficult to complete, so we are presenting here a version that is as close as we can make it to the original, but is such that we believe will made this canvass of views more readily available to a greater number. We suggest that you fill it in either as individuals or as groups. The important thing is that it represents the livid experience of as many people, single, couples, families, in our Church.

We acknowledge the help of our friends in the reform movement in the United States in the preparation of this survey.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Tim Schmalz

Two months ago, news broke that a priest in the Diocese of Trenton had been exchanging sexually charged text messages with someone he thought was a 16-year-old boy.

I was that fictitious boy.

Matthew Riedlinger was an assistant pastor at St. Aloysius Church in Jackson. In 2011, I and another Catholic University of America student complained to Trenton Bishop David M. O’Connell that Riedlinger had sexually harassed us and other young men repeatedly for years. In the summer of 2012, we posed as a 16-year-old boy on Face­book and set up a sting.

Within two weeks of the first contact, Riedlinger talked about pornography, mutual masturbation and sexual encounters. And, he wanted to meet “me.”

In August 2012, we gave transcripts of the conversations to O’Connell, who removed Riedlinger from the parish, but the bishop did not tell parishioners of the allegations against Riedlinger for more than a year — until Sept. 21, after being told The Star-Ledger would be publishing a story on the scandal.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Hispanically Speaking

Dominican Republic prosecutors investigating former Archbishop and Papal Nuncio Jozef Wesolowski, on allegations of child sexual abuse, have concluded he sexually abused at least five boys under the age of 15.

Last fall, a local news program aired allegations that Wesolowski had paid to have sex with minor boys in the capital city of Santo Domingo. The investigative report also indicated Wesolowski was a regular vistor to the Zona Colonial area of Santo Domingo where he was seen drinking and paying for sex in open areas of the Zona.

Wesolowski, 65, had been representing Vatican interests in the predominantly Catholic country for the last six years, when these allegations surfaced. The Polish priest was ordained by then Bishop Karol Wojtyla who later became Pope John II and will soon become a saint.

The Catholic priest has been under investigation by Dominican authorities after the abuse allegations surfaced and officially removed from his duties by the Vatican in August.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

The suspension of a priest is the correct course of action to follow as inquiry gets under way, writes Michael Kelly

CONFUSION and misunderstanding, rather than righteous anger, are at the root of protests by his parishioners at the suspension of Fr Matthew Despard while a penal judicial process is undertaken into the way he made his allegations over homosexual bullying in the Catholic Church. Although he wrote his book, Priesthood in Crisis, in 2010 he did not self-publish it on Amazon until April this year. The memoir reflects his own experiences of being solicited by gay priests and the anger he genuinely felt at these abuses continuing in the Church.

However, a number of individuals named, including laity as well as clergy, took exception to the ways in which they had been portrayed and petitioned for the book to be removed from publication. It was, suggesting that at least some of the complainants had advanced compelling cases in law.

Clearly, such allegations as 
Fr Despard made deserve thorough and detailed examination by the Church and, if upheld, for action to be taken. An investigation is also necessary to satisfy those who feel wronged by the book. That process is just beginning. But first the Church wants to examine the way in which Fr Despard brought his claims to the attention of the public. It is suggested that he should have used the Church’s own procedures to have the matters investigated, as did the four priests who anonymously made complaints to the Holy See about Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Possibly better versed in the legal process and procedures, they took their allegations directly to Rome and, as a result, action was taken against the former Archbishop of Edinburgh. The seismic factor that brought their complaints to light, rather than allowing the process to be completed in private, was that Benedict XVI announced his abdication, raising the possibility that O’Brien would be voting for the new Pope. The complainants, determined to stop that, allowed their private allegations to be made public. They, in fact, achieved all of their objectives in completely removing O’Brien from all his priestly duties.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

21 November 2013

CATHOLIC Truth has been approached by some concerned parishioners in the parish of St John Ogilvie in Blantyre, deeply upset at the suspension of their priest, Father Matthew Despard.

We have supported Fr Despard – although we have never met him or had any personal contact with him – and we are willing to speak on behalf of these concerned parishioners because we believe that he is being unjustly treated by the hierarchy. Priests who admit to being homosexual are on public record disowning Catholic sexual morality in this area, and even openly work within the “gay rights” movement, yet they are allowed to remain “priests in good standing” without any sanctions imposed upon them.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Nov. 21, 2013

NEWCASTLE Anglican bishop administrator Peter Stuart expressed his ‘‘deep regret’’ to the royal commission over the diocese’s lack of knowledge about two priests, in a letter he wrote earlier this month.

The diocese was unaware of ‘‘the facts, matters and circumstances’’ relating to convicted child sex offender priest Allan Kitchingman, and Canon Campbell Brown, until the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, Bishop Stuart wrote in a letter on November 14 and tendered as evidence to the commission.

The two priests are the subject of the commission’s third session of public hearings in Sydney.

Reverend Kitchingman was jailed in 2002 for sexually assaulting a boy, 13, at North Coast Children’s Home at Lismore in the 1970s.

Evidence before the commission includes that in 2005 former children’s home resident Tommy Campion alleged Canon Brown sexually abused him at the home.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Nov. 21, 2013

FORMER Newcastle Anglican Dean Graeme Lawrence was ‘‘a very powerful man’’ who allegedly ‘‘protected’’ people including possibly a convicted child sex offender priest, the royal commission has been told.

The recently defrocked Mr Lawrence was ‘‘quite a powerful person who exercised influence over even bishops’’, former diocese professional standards director Philip Gerber said yesterday.

During his time as Dean, Newcastle Anglican Cathedral became ‘‘a place where people who had less than savoury pasts were congregating’’.

‘‘There was a lot of sort of low-level information that made me very uneasy about who and what was going on at the cathedral,’’ Mr Gerber said.

It was no surprise to Mr Gerber that sex offender priest Allan Kitchingman worshipped at the cathedral after he was released from jail in 2004 for crimes committed against a 13-year-old boy at North Coast Children’s Home at Lismore in 1975.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 22, 2013

A PEDOPHILE priest, who was twice convicted of indecently assaulting teenage boys, was never disciplined by the church and continued to worship publicly at an Anglican cathedral until October this year.

Documents tendered to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse show the man, Allan Kitchingman, was one of three church officials able to remain priests despite the church receiving allegations they had sexually abused children.

Philip Gerber, the former professional standards director for the Anglican diocese of Newcastle, NSW, told the commission that Kitchingman continued to worship at the city’s cathedral after his most recent conviction in 2002.

“There were a number of people, including the dean of the cathedral . . . who had some sort of history of misconduct or abuse that were collecting around Newcastle cathedral,” Mr Gerber told the commission.

“Dean Graeme Lawrence was a very powerful man and he protected people who were in his cathedral . . . he was quite a powerful person who exercised influence over people, even bishops.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
ABC 23

[with video]

The non profit charity, Road To Recovery, says it has been helping dozens of people who accused Baker of abusing them in his roles as teacher, coach and athletic trainer. These pare positions Baker held at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown in the nineties. Luke Bradescu was a freshman at a high school in Ohio. His mother says she learned of the allegations earlier this year and wants to know who made the call to transfer Baker to Pennsylvania. She also says she wants people who may have been abused to get the help they need….

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

David Hurst
dhurst@tribdem.com

JOHNSTOWN — Barbara Aponte said she understands all too well the consequences of silence.

The Ohio woman said her son, Luke, one of hundreds from several states alleged to have been abused by Brother Stephen Baker over a 20-year period, took his own life in 2003 after years of quietly struggling to cope with it.

It’s the reason she brought his story to Johnstown on Wednesday, hopeful those struggling in silence to deal with their own abuse will see they aren’t alone – and learn from it.

“Staying silent doesn’t help. If you don’t deal with it, it will eat at you,” said Aponte, whose son was a student at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio, during Baker’s years there. “Whether it’s you or someone you know that was abused, it’s so important that you come forward so the healing process can begin.”

Aponte’s story was part of a press conference Wednesday held by New Jersey-based nonprofit Road to Recovery Inc., which contends there are perhaps hundreds across the country, including local men and women, who still have not come forward about abuse by Baker.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

David Hurst
dhurst@tribdem.com

JOHNSTOWN — An attorney representing 34 alleged victims of the late Brother Stephen Baker called on the local Roman Catholic diocese to “set the truth free” by releasing the former athletic trainer’s personnel files.

Boston-based attorney Mitchell Garabedian called on the Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese to release “secret files” on Baker, who served as a religion teacher, sports trainer and baseball coach at McCort from 1992 to 2000 – a period when it’s alleged Baker sexually assaulted as many as 80 students.

“It’s time for the diocese to come clean,” Garabedian added, saying years of silence at McCort has wrecked countless lives. “Let’s get the truth out, so we can know who knew about this. And these victims can heal.”

Garabedian and Robert Hoatson, a former priest and co-founder of the nonprofit Road to Recovery, a New Jersey charity formed to guide sex abuse victims on a path toward healing, made the statement at a press conference from inside a suite at the downtown Johnstown Holiday Inn on Wednesday.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Mittelbayerische

SENGENTHAL/NÜRNBERG. Seit 20. August war er in Untersuchungshaft gesessen, seit Freitag ist der des sexuellen Missbrauchs beschuldigte Ex-Pfarrer von Reichertshofen wieder auf freiem Fuß.

Der Anwalt des Seelsorgers hatte beim Landgericht Nürnberg-Fürth Beschwerde gegen die U-Haft seines Mandanten eingereicht, daraufhin wurde der Haftbefehl aufgehoben. Aktuell bestehe kein dringender Tatverdacht, zudem stehe Aussage gegen Aussage, so Anita Traud, Justizsprecherin der Staatsanwaltschaft Nürnberg-Fürth, auf MZ-Nachfrage.

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NEW JERSEY
Courier-Post

Written by
Jim Walsh
Courier-Post

The Diocese of Camden and a Ohio man have agreed in principle to settle a lawsuit over alleged incidents of clergy sex abuse.

Mark Bryson sued the diocese in January 2012, alleging he was molested as a child by a parish priest, the late Joseph Shannon, at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Camden’s Cramer Hill section.

The tentative settlement was announced as the two sides sparred in court over Bryson’s claim of repressed memory, a key element in setting a legal deadline for Bryson’s suit.

Bryson, born in 1961, said he was assaulted as a first-grader at St. Anthony of Padua’s parish school. He claimed to recall the abuse in February 2010 after seeing someone who reminded him of Shannon.

The diocese challenged the validity of repressed memory and argued it should not be required to defend itself over incidents that allegedly occurred decades before.

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CALIFORNIA
Monterey County Weekly

Mary Duan and Sara Rubin

A judge has issued a preliminary decision that the Monterey County Weekly can obtain documents in the case of Father Edward Fitz-Henry, a Catholic priest suspended amid allegations he molested a teenage parishioner at Madonna del Sasso Church in Salinas, and may have abused other young boys in the Monterey Diocese decades ago.

Monterey Superior Court Judge Tom Wills’ decision comes after the Weekly filed a motion to intervene in a suit brought by the most recent alleged victim. The man, now in his early 20s, claimed Fitz-Henry assaulted him multiple times while at Madonna del Sasso starting around 2005. The Weekly’s aim is to unseal documents filed in the case, as well as obtain other evidence like deposition transcripts.

Wills issued the preliminary ruling on Nov. 6, but it wasn’t given to reporters until Nov. 13. The Weekly broke the story online.

“We’re grateful the court’s preliminary ruling recognizes the public interest in disclosure of the information,” says Weekly attorney Roger Myers of the San Francisco firm Bryan Cave LLP. “It’s important this order be affirmed at the hearing so the public can know how the Diocese responded to the allegations against Father Fitz-Henry.”

In making his preliminary ruling, Wills ordered the deposition of Don Cline, a former Salinas cop hired by the Diocese to investigate the abuse allegations, to be redacted, meaning portions of the text will be removed or blacked out.

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IDAHO
KTVB

[with video]

by Jamie Grey
Follow: @KTVBJamieGrey
KTVB.COM
Posted on November 20, 2013

BOISE — A former Treasure Valley Boy Scout, a “John Doe,” who’s part of a lawsuit against the scouts and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is speaking exclusively to KTVB, explaining why he’s suing decades after he says he was sexually abused and why he still doesn’t want his identity known.

The lawsuit now includes at least a dozen men, and attorneys on the case say more are expected to join. All but one are listed as John Doe on the filing. Most say they were the victim of one man: Jim Schmidt, a former Caldwell scoutmaster who was convicted of abusing another scout in 1983.

“He seemed to love scouting. He seemed to care about the people that he led, the boys. The boys liked him. He gave us a lot of attention,” Doe, the plaintiff, said.

When this John Doe was 12 and 13 years old, he says his scoutmaster sexually abused him at scout meetings held at an LDS church, at the scoutmaster’s home, in the scoutmaster’s car, but mostly on camping trips.

“Some of us had fathers that were very busy. Some didn’t have fathers, or fathers that were absent, and Jim Schmidt filled a void in the lives of a lot of us boys,” Doe said.

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By David Leslie and Rev. Amy Gopp

On Nov. 24, churches, congregations and other faith communities around the country will be participating in Speak Out Sunday – an annual day set aside to raise awareness and speak out about sexual and gender based violence (SGBV). SGBV includes domestic violence, rape, sex trafficking, child sex abuse and related acts.

We are proud that the Portland area will be among the most active regions of the country on Speak Out Sunday.

Speak Out Sunday was created by WeWillSpeakOut.US, a coalition and movement led by IMA World Health designed to empower faith communities to speak out and take action to prevent and address SGBV. It is the faith community’s way of collectively amplifying the global efforts of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence held annually from Nov. 25 (the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) to Dec. 10 (Human Rights Day).

Why do we need Speak Out Sunday?

Two years ago, Amy traveled to eastern Congo and held the hands of women who had been savagely raped. Left for dead, they made their way to IMA World Health, which works to provide medical care, counseling, legal support and economic opportunities for women – and occasionally men – brutalized by sexual violence.

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WEST VIRGINIA
WSAZ

MINGO COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) — A former youth leader at a church in Mingo County is facing sexual abuse charges.

West Virginia State Police say the suspect, 52-year-old Gary Adkins, is accused of inappropriately touching a 7-year-old female relative.

Adkins was charged Tuesday.

According to the criminal complaint, the 7-year-old told investigators Adkins had sexually abused her.

The complaint says the alleged activity took place at Adkins’ home along Upper Sheppard Town Road in Delbarton during the summer of 2012.

The complaint says the girl’s mother told investigators she had alarming changes in behavior, including asking frequently “if she is nasty on the inside and out” and repeatedly “asking God to forgive her of all her sins.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

An inquiry has heard of an Anglican official’s regret at not taking disciplinary action against a convicted pedophile, which allowed him to continue representing himself as an ordained minister.

Reverend Allan Kitchingman was convicted in 2002 on five counts of indecently assaulting a 13-year-old boy in 1975 at the North Coast Children’s Home, where he was chaplain.

He presented himself as an ordained minister in the community once he finished his jail term for indecently assaulting a teenager.

The Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining the Anglican Diocese of Grafton’s response to abuse at the Lismore home.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

The Royal Commission has heard from senior officials from the Anglican Church, who’ve criticised the way the Grafton diocese handled complaints from the former residents of the North Coast Children’s Home. The national inquiry into child sexual abuse has been told the Grafton diocese, which ran the orphanage in Lismore, was more concerned about church finances than helping abuse victims. A former head of professional standards admitted that he failed to take disciplinary action against a clergyman who was convicted and jailed for child sex offences.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: Senior Anglican Church officials have criticised the way the Grafton Diocese in New South Wales handled abuse complaints from former residents of a Church-run children’s home.

The Royal Commission into child sexual abuse has been told that the diocese which ran the orphanage in Lismore was more concerned about its own finances than helping abuse victims.

The inquiry also heard that the leadership of the Grafton Diocese contributed to the mental distress of the victims who were seeking redress and compensation.

PM’s Emily Bourke reports.

EMILY BOURKE: Yet more Anglican Church officials are being quizzed by the Royal Commission about how the church dealt with dozens of abuse victims from the North Coast Children’s Home.

But today the inquiry also looked at how the Church handled offenders in its ranks.

Philip Gerber was a professional standards director in the dioceses of Sydney, Grafton and Newcastle. He told the commission that he regrets taking more than a year to inform police about a suspected paedophile.

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AUSTRALIA
Telegraph

Victim’s warnings about clergyman who assaulted him ignored because offender had common name, inquiry told.

MATTHEW BENNS THE TELEGRAPH NOVEMBER 21, 2013

CHILD sexual abuse victim Richard Campion’s warning about a clergyman who assaulted him was ignored by the Anglican Church’s standards watchdog because the offender had a common name, the royal commission into child sex abuse heard today.

Quizzed about his failure to act, Philip Gerber, former Professional Standards Director for the Dioceses of Sydney, Grafton and Newcastle, admitted: “I am very unhappy with myself.”

Mr Campion’s 2005 letter told how he had been sexually abused at the former North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore by a Reverend Brown.

“It’s not an uncommon name, it’s you know, Brown,” said Mr Gerber.

Counsel assisting the Royal Commission, Simeon Beckett, suggested he could have asked Mr Campion for more detail on his attacker, including his first name.

“It wouldn’t have been much of a stretch would it to have actually done some research to ascertain what his name was and whether he had been licensed to officiate in the Diocese of Grafton,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

By Ava Benny-Morrison, AAP
Updated November 21, 2013

By not acting on a letter revealing horrific abuse at the hands of an Anglican Church clergyman, Philip Gerber admits he may have put other vulnerable children at risk.

Pressed before a royal commission on why he did not look up the offending cleric, the former professional standards director said the alleged perpetrator had a common surname – Brown.

It is in retrospect that Mr Gerber has admitted his oversight and expressed remorse at not referring the 2005 letter detailing physical and sexual abuse to police.

The letter was from Richard “Tommy” Campion, a survivor of abuse at the North Coast Children’s Home at Lismore in NSW.

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OHIO
Youngstown Vindicator

Staff report

WARREN

The Diocese of Youngstown has received a settlement request on behalf of 25 more purported molestation victims of Brother Stephen Baker, the Franciscan friar who worked at Warren John F. Kennedy High School from 1986 to 1991.

Atty. Mitchell Garabedian of Boston sent the diocese a letter dated Oct. 17, 2013, demanding $1 million for each claim. Baker’s order, The Third Order Regular Franciscans, received a similar letter with the same demand, the Diocese said in a news release.

“The Diocese of Youngstown will follow its standard pastoral practice in this matter, as it does in any allegation of child abuse,” the diocese said.

“First, at the recommendation of the predominately lay Diocesan Review Board, the diocese will investigate each claim. If any of the claims are found to be credible, the diocese will offer financial assistance for counseling.”

Additionally, Bishop George V. Murry will meet with any victim who wants to speak with him personally, the diocese said.

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PROVIDENCE (RI)
NECN

[documents via NBC 10]

November 21, 2013

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A group of men and women who claim sexual abuse by priests have accused the Catholic Diocese of Providence of failing to properly investigate more than 800 allegations over the past 20 years.

The Providence Journal reports ( ) that Jeffrey Thomas of Massachusetts and Helen McGonigle, a Connecticut lawyer, said Wednesday they were raped as children.

The Diocese of Providence says it reports clergy sex abuse of minors to law enforcement and is not aware of priests currently in ministry who have “credible allegations” of sexual abuse of minors.

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PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal

BY W. ZACHARY MALINOWSKI
Journal Staff Writer
bmalinow@providencejournal.com Twitter@billmalinowski

PROVIDENCE — Victims of sexual abuse gathered for a news conference on Wednesday to condemn the Catholic Diocese of Providence for allegedly failing to properly investigate more than 800 allegations of sexual abuse over the past 20 years.

Among those presenting in a downtown hotel conference room stories of abuse by local parish priests were Ann Hagan-Webb, a representative from Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP; and Jeffrey Thomas, of Massachusetts, and Helen McGonigle, a lawyer from Connecticut.

Thomas and McGonigle said they were raped as children by the Rev. Brendan Smyth, an Irish priest who was at Our Lady of Mercy Church in East Greenwich from 1965 to 1968. Smyth returned to Ireland and pleaded guilty to 141 counts of sexual abuse there. He died in prison in Ireland in 1997.
Thomas and McGonigle had made similar allegations about Smyth at a news conference in December 2009.

The victims said Wednesday they want the office of Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin and U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha to launch an in-depth investigation into what they said were 831 complaints of pedophilia and sexual abuse filed with the diocese. They also said many of the abusive priests continue to serve in parishes in Rhode Island and elsewhere. …

The Diocese of Providence issued a statement claiming they always forward allegations of sexual abuse to the state police or local law enforcement.

“It has been a consistent policy and practice of the Diocese of Providence to report many different issues including those of clergy abuse of minors to law enforcement,” the statement read. “The diocese is not aware of any priests currently in ministry, who have credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors against them.”

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CANADA
Nunatsiaq Online

DAVID MURPHY

Day three of the Eric Dejaeger trial at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit heard from a witness who said she had been raped and drugged by the priest with a “little green pill” at the St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in Igloolik decades ago.

The woman, who cannot be identified, told court she was about eight when the sexual assaults took place.

Even before answering Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss’s questions, the witness started wincing at having to recall specific incidents in the church.

The first memory she described took place in the church’s bedroom upstairs on a bunk bed.

“At first he asked me to get undressed. I was scared of him. He told me not to tell anybody,” the witness said.

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

Fr. Ireneusz Chodakowski, pastor of St. Peter Catholic Church in Kenosha, has been permanently removed from his parish by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and is under police investigation.

According to the Kenosha News, an employee of the parish allegedly confronted Chodakowski about pornography being posted through his Facebook page, to or seen by minors.

While the police will not comment on what, exactly, they are investigating, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is saying that Chodakowski simply exercised “lack of good judgment” in his social media usage. How lacking? Enough for Archbishop Listecki to take the most severe, immediate action he could take against him.

Despite being under investigation and fired from his parish, Chodakowski was back posting on his Facebook page again today.

Chodakowski, a native of Poland, is a member of the Massachusetts based religious order, Marians of the Immaculate Conception (“MIC”). He was recruited and officially assigned to run St. Peter’s parish and grade school by Listecki in 2010.

Chodakowski, according to a profile posted on the order’s website, has worked as a priest in Poland and England. More recently, he was pastor of St. Louis Catholic Church in Portland, Maine from 1998-2009 where, according to the parish website, he was assigned to Thomson, Connecticut. The MIC’s operate Marianapolis Prep School in Thomson.

As is typical with the Milwaukee Archdiocese, while they have removed Chodakowski from his post and are freely pontificating on this case, they also claim to allegedly have no information or authority over Chodakowski because he is a religious order priest. Over half the priests working or living in the Milwaukee Archdiocese under Listecki belong to religious orders. Ironically, the website for St. Peter’s Parish in Kenosha states: “We are associated with other Catholic parishes under the direction of the Archbishop of Milwaukee.” Perhaps the Archbishop should inform the parish that this is, in fact, not the case.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Dan Box
From: The Australian
November 21, 2013

THE Anglican Church failed to take disciplinary action against three alleged paedophile priests – one of whom was later convicted for indecent assault – despite receiving several reports they had abused children, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard this morning.

All three men were allowed to continue to publicly describe themselves as a priest and attend worship.

One, the Reverend Campbell Brown, had a licence to officiate at church services until June this year, the commission has heard.

The former Professional Standards Director of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton in northern NSW, Phillip Gerber, told the commission he did not report allegations of abuse committed by Reverend Brown to police for over a year.

“I’m not trying to defend myself. It might have potentially … put other people at risk, children and vulnerable people at risk. I’m appalled that my actions might have caused that,” he told the commission.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: TONY KENNEDY , Star Tribune Updated: November 20, 2013

Minnetonka priest has been renting townhouse to a former priest who admitted to child sex abuse in 1984.

A Catholic priest in Minnetonka who told his parishioners two weeks ago that the church needs to rid itself of priests involved in sexual misconduct and “hold those who covered it up very much accountable” has been renting his townhouse to an abusive priest since 2006.

The Rev. David Ostrowski said in an interview Wednesday that his renter, ex-priest Fran Hoefgen, has been a friend since they were monks together at St. John’s Abbey nearly 30 years ago. Ostrowski, who is pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, said his housing relationship with Hoefgen it is merely an act of friendship.

“I know some people will see it as a criticism of me, but I was just trying to be a friend to him, that’s all,” Ostrowski told the Star Tribune.

Hoefgen admitted to police in 1984 that he sexually abused a 17-year-old boy at a parish in Cold Spring, Minn., where he served as a priest. He wasn’t charged with a crime, and church officials reassigned him to a parish in Hastings without telling parishioners about the previous abuse. On Tuesday, Hoefgen was accused in a new lawsuit of sexually abusing a boy at the Hastings parish.

Hastings Police Chief Bryan Schafer said Wednesday that his department has opened a criminal investigation into the matter.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Seattle PI

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — Twenty-five additional sex-abuse claims have been filed in the case of a Franciscan brother who killed himself after allegations emerged at a Catholic high school, the Youngstown Diocese said Wednesday.

The diocese said it would review the additional claims and the demand for $1 million in compensation for each alleged victim.

The alleged victims’ attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, said the abuse occurred from 1985 to 1992.

The diocese and Franciscans settled 11 earlier abuse claims against the brother for $75,000 each.

If the latest claims are found credible, Bishop George Murry said the diocese would offer financial assistance for counseling.

Brother Stephen Baker killed himself Jan. 26 at St. Bernardine Monastery in Hollidaysburg, Pa., after the allegations emerged at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren.

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WISCONSIN
Fox 6

November 20, 2013, by Bret Buganski

KENOSHA (WITI) — The priest at St. Peter’s Church in Kenosha is being investigated by police, and placed on administrative leave — and Facebook may have played a role.

The Kenosha parish learned this past weekend that its priest is no longer heading the congregation.

A deacon with St. Peter’s Catholic Church has confirmed the priest was placed on administrative leave for what is being called “a lack of good judgement.”

Kenosha police say the department is investigating a case involving a priest who has been removed from the parish because of his use of Facebook — but it is unclear what specifically the priest is accused of doing on Facebook, as is who may have uncovered his alleged activities.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

Updated: Wednesday, November 20 2013

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — As the attorneys for the alleged victims of Brother Stephen Baker continue to form their cases and seek out who knew what and when, an organization that helps victims of sexual abuse is seeking the truth themselves.

Road to Recovery was in Johnstown Wednesday, urging alleged victims and anyone at Bishop McCort Catholic High School who knew something to come forward. Luke Bradescu was 29 years old when he took his life.

For 11 years, his family struggled to figure out why. “What was wrong?” his mother, Barbara Aponte asked through tears Wednesday.

“He seemed happy, he knew he was loved. We knew he loved us.” It wasn’t until this past January when allegations against Baker surfaced and many of Bradescu’s old high school friends in Ohio came forward, that Aponte found her answer.

“The story broke and it was like a flood of images and memories, things that seemed so insignificant just popped out,” said Aponte. “I was like, ‘Oh my God. This is it.”

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SPRINGFIELD (IL)
The Freethinker (UK)

BY BARRY DUKE – NOVEMBER 20, 2013

NO news is good news, so we assume that Illinois still exists, and has not been destroyed amidst roiling black clouds, fire pouring down from the heavens and people spewing pea soup – despite an exorcism that was due to take place today to protest the state’s approval of gay marriage.

I can find no reports that the exorcism by the Church’s Head Ju-Ju man in that neck of the woods actually took place. Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Springfield diocese may well have changed his mind, given the outpourings of scorn that followed his announcement last week that he would offer prayers:

Of exorcism in reparation for the sin of same-sex marriage.

Paprocki is no stranger to confronting The Forces of Evil. In October Frankie’s Capped Crusader single-handedly prevented a:

Blasphemous, scandalous, and sacrilegious recitation of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Rainbow Sash Movement within the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception before the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

According to this report:

In a culture where the concept of exorcism is primarily shaped by a 1970s horror film, the announcement stirred confusion and discomfort, which Paprocki has declined to resolve. Even the Chicago Archdiocese’s designated exorcist declined to answer questions about the public rite that is more often private.

In fact, some Catholics believe the ritual could cast off more Catholics than demons. Yesterday, 14,000 petitioners called on the bishop to cancel the event.

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PROVIDENCE (RI)
NBC 10

[I-Team: Letters detail alleged sex abuse in diocese
I-Team: Letters raise questions about alleged sex abuse in diocese]

Updated: Nov 20, 2013
By Katie Davis

PROVIDENCE –
Alleged victims who said they were sexually abused by priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence demanded Wednesday for a full investigation by the attorney general’s office and the U.S. Attorney.

In a recent investigation, the NBC 10 I-Team obtained through a records request 88 pages detailing sexual abuse by priests going back more than 30 years.

In each case, a letter detailing allegations of sexual abuse was sent to the Rhode Island State Police by the diocese.

The diocese began the practice around 2003, although there’s no legal mandate requiring the letters. A total of 45 letters were sent to state police between 2003 and 2013.

The documents which were stamped “confidential” were heavily redacted by state police.

The names of priests were blacked out, even those people who are already dead. Dates and locations were blacked out. The names of the churches were blacked out too.

“This has to change if we’re going to help children,” said Ann Hagan Webb, who joined other victims at a news conference at the Renaissance Hotel in Providence. …

“The red flags that remain in these letters are sufficient to cause great concern that children are at risk in this diocese,” said Anne Barrett Doyle of the watchdog group Bishop Accountability.

Barrett Doyle said she believes some of the priests described in the letters may still be working in local churches, based on details that weren’t blacked out by state police.

But the diocese said in its statement that’s not the case.

“The diocese is not aware of any priests currently in ministry, who have credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors against them,” the statement said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CANADA
The Windsor Star

Nov 20, 2013

Don Lajoie

A Windsor woman who offers support for victims of clergy sex abuse wants to expand the service nationwide.

Brenda Brunelle is seeking federal incorporation as a not-for-profit organization that would offer help to victims across Canada. She began the service in Windsor last year.

Brunelle, who was sexually abused by local priest Rev. Michael Fallone when she was a girl, sued the Catholic church four years ago and reached a settlement in 2012.

Brunelle said the local chapter of the U.S.-based international Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has helped dozens of victims come to terms with their experiences — participants come from as far away as Sarnia and Cambridge to take part in regular meetings. The first session she chaired in Toronto recently drew 16 people, despite little advance notice.

“The experience was overwhelming,” she said. “It was the first time many had ever met someone else who had been abused and the emotions were high. People were still talking in the parking lot well after the meeting ended. They didn’t want to leave. It was the rawest moment I’ve ever experienced in my life.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

SPRINGFIELD (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki often seeks the media limelight to trumpet his views loudly (like with today’s exorcism). But he still quietly sits on child sex abuse allegations for weeks.

In September, Paprocki let a priest who’s accused of child sex crimes temporarily resign, instead of suspending him. Before that, however, Paprocki kept the allegations secret for weeks, giving the accused predator plenty of time to destroy evidence, intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, fabricate alibis and even flee the country.

[State Journal-Register]

Weeks ago, Paprocki temporarily let Fr. Robert “Bud” DeGrand resign from his posts at Catholic parishes in Sigel, Neoga, Green Creek and Lillyville.

First, Paprocki should have suspended Fr. DeGrand. That’s what the US bishops pledged to do when credible child sex abuse reports surfaced. That’s what the US bishops’ official sex abuse policy mandates. There’s a difference between someone stepping aside and someone being TOLD to step aside. To let a credibly accused child molesting cleric decide whether to temporarily step down minimizes the horror he or she allegedly committed.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CANADA
CBC News

A witness testifying at the trial of a priest accused of sexual assault told a court in Iqaluit on Wednesday that the accused once used food to lure her.

The 41-year-old woman said her family in Igloolik, Nunavut, was sometimes hungry for days at a time between 1978 and 1982, the years when Eric Dejaeger was the priest in the remote community.

The Roman Catholic priest, 66, is on trial for dozens of sexual abuse charges, relating to incidents alleged to have occurred while Dejaeger was in Igloolik.

Some shocking allegations have already been made in court this week, including alleged abuse against young girls, boys and animals.

The witness this morning testified that she was sexually assaulted numerous times by Dejaeger. She told the court how her grandmother, who was raising her, often sent her to the church for a meal.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel Nov. 20, 2013

A Catholic priest has been removed from his post at a Kenosha parish while authorities investigate his postings of videos on Facebook, the Kenosha News has reported.

The Rev. Ireneusz Chodakowski’s removal was announced to parishioners at St. Peter’s Catholic Church over the weekend.

Kenosha Police and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee did not immediately return telephone calls on Wednesday.

The Kenosha News quotes an anonymous parishioner as saying Chodakowski was being investigated for allegedly sharing pornography. It said a spokeswoman for the archdiocese characterized his alleged offense as “a lack of good judgment” in his use of social media.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal

November 20, 2013

BY W. ZACHARY MALINOWSKI
PROVIDENCE — Victims of alleged sexual abuse gathered for a news conference on Wednesday to condemn the Diocese of Providence for failing to properly investigate more than 800 allegations of sexual abuse over the past 20 years.

Among those presenting harrowing tales of abuse by local parish priests were Ann Hagan-Webb, a representative from Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP; and Jeffrey Thomas, of Massachusetts, and Helen McGonigle, a lawyer from Connecticut.

Thomas and McGonigle said they were raped as children by the Rev. Brendan Smyth, an Irish priest who was at Our Lady of Mercy Church in East Greenwich from 1965 to 1968. Smyth returned to Ireland and pleaded guilty to 141 counts of sexual abuse. He died in prison in 1997.

The victims said they want the office of Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin and U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha to launch an in-depth investigation into the 831 complaints of pedophilia and sexual abuse.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WISCONSIN
Kenosha News

BY BILL GUIDA
bguida@kenoshanews.com

An ongoing investigation has led to the removal of the Rev. Ireneusz Chodakowski as pastor of St. Peter Catholic Church.

The probe, according to a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, is for Chodakowki’s alleged “lack of good judgment” regarding use of social media.

An anonymous parishioner told the Kenosha News that Chodakowski is “accused of using his Facebook account to share pornography, primarily with adults, but occasionally with minors.”

The parishioner said he was at Saturday’s Mass when the Rev. Bill Hayward read a prepared statement saying Chodakowski would be replaced by another priest “for at at least three weeks until somebody else could replace him more permanently.”

According to the parishioner, Chodakowski allegedly rebuffed a parish employee’s requests that he “make changes in the video content of his Facebook account,” apparently to prevent minors from seeing “pornographic images (Chodakowski) was distributing.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WISCONSIN
WTMJ

[with video]

By Jonah Kaplan

KENOSHA – A stunning change at a Catholic Church: a priest let go potentially because of his social media accounts.

St. Peter Catholic Church has a fill-in priest now, and officials tell parishioners they plan to find a full time replacement soon.

Church members confirmed they heard the abrupt announcement during mass about the fate of their priest, Father Ireneusz Chodakowski. Some parishioners told a Kenosha newspaper it’s because he shared porn on his Facebook account.

Church officials refused to answer our questions, but some church members weren’t so shy.

“With all that’s been in the news with what’s been happening in the churches – to have that here, that’s tough,” comments Tom Odegaard, who grew up at the church.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CANADA
Ottawa Citizen

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS NOVEMBER 20, 2013

IQALUIT, Nunavut – A witness at the trial of a priest accused of child abuse in the North says the cleric used hunger to force children into sex.

BORDERLINE: GRAPHIC CONTENT MAY DISTURB SOME READERS

“When I was a child, sometimes we had nothing to eat,” the witness said Wednesday at the trial of Eric Dejaeger. “Mama (her grandmother) would have to leave me there (at the church) so I could eat.”

The witness, who was about eight years old in 1980 when the alleged assault took place in Igloolik, Nunavut, broke down in tears and sighed heavily to compose herself before she could continue her testimony.

She said one night, after Dejaeger fed her, he took her into his bedroom and told her to get undressed.

“I was scared of him,” said the witness, who recalled that the priest was wearing his long black church robe. “He told me not to tell anybody and then he said he was going to do something to me.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CANADA
Sun News

QMI AGENCY

A woman testified a Nunavut priest raped her when she was eight years old after she went to the church for a meal because there was no food at home.

The woman, who cannot be identified, testified against former Roman Catholic priest Eric Dejaeger in an Iqaluit courtroom Wednesday.

She said she told her grandmother, who was caring for her, about the rape, but she didn’t believe her, The Canadian Press reported.

On Tuesday, defence lawyer Malcolm Kempt cross-examined another woman who said she was taped to Dejaeger’s bed. Kempt questioned the woman about the details of the alleged attack, and a $16,000 out-of-court settlement from the church, the CBC reported.

Dejaeger, 66, is accused of sexually assaulting Inuit children between about 1978 and 1989 during his time in Igloolik and Baker Lake.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Staff | Nov. 20, 2013

KANSAS CITY, MO. NCR’s board of directors has appointed Caitlin Hendel chief executive officer and president of National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company. The appointment takes effect Jan. 1.

Thomas C. Fox will remain publisher of the company. Fox’s work will focus on development and directing the Global Catholic Sisters Initiative, a multiyear reporting project funded with a grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Hendel’s responsibility will include oversight of NCR’s editorial products as well as the day-to-day business operations of the company.

The appointment came after a nationwide search for a CEO/president and was made Nov. 16 during the NCR board’s annual fall meeting.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Journal

JUSTICE MINISTER ALAN Shatter has confirmed that his Department needs an extra €32 million this year in order to make up a shortfall in the garda budget and to provide compensation for women who were in the Magadelene Laundries.

Speaking at the Justice Committee today, Shatter criticised Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesperson Niall Collins for raising the issue earlier this week and claiming that there would be a €51 million shortfall in the An Garda Siochána budget for next year.

He said that though an additional €51 million is required for the garda budget, as well as €5 million for the payments to victims of the Magdalene Laundries, almost €24 million can be saved from other areas in the Department of Justice’s budget.

This will mean that overall an additional €32 million will be needed for this year.

Some of the savings have been identified in the Prisons Service, the Courts Service, the Property Registration Authority and the overall Justice and Equality Budget, Shatter said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

by Susan Matthews

First Father Paul resigned from Our Lady of Calvary, where he remained as pastor while under investigation and review for two allegations of child sex abuse. A week later, without announcement, the archdiocese temporarily removed his faculties and he will not be able to celebrate Mass in public pending the outcome of the canonical investigation. This has been confirmed by an archdiocesan official. The only reason we discovered Father Paul’s removal is because Kathy Kane monitors the clergy list for just such changes.

– Why, after leaving him as pastor during much of the investigation, remove him from ministry now?

– Why wasn’t there a public announcement of this removal? Other victims might be prompted to come forward.

– Do the parishioners of Our Lady of Calvary know Father Paul has been temporarily removed from ministry? The families were not informed of the allegations until he resigned. The archdiocese did not consider them “pertinent parties.” Which is odd, given the Safe Environment statement on the Archdiocesan website. “Parents are the first and most influential teachers of children and are responsible for their spiritual, moral, emotional, physical, and intellectual development. This is an awesome and sometimes daunting responsibility. When armed with proper information, parents can best protect their children from predators.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis via KSTP

November 19, 2013

CONTACT
Jim Accurso
Media and Public Relations Manager
T: 651-291-4480
M: 651-261-6070
accursoj@archspm.org

We are investigating the claims in today’s lawsuit which involves Francis Hoefgen, a former priest of St. John’s Abbey who served in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in the mid-1980’s. In 1992, Hoefegen’s faculties were restricted by the abbey, and he was no longer allowed to serve in public ministry. He was laicized in December 2011.

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis continues to encourage anyone who suspects abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult within Church ministry—or any setting including the home or school—to first contact law enforcement. Any act of abuse against a minor or vulnerable adult is reprehensible and morally repugnant and we will not tolerate it.

Our first priority is to create and maintain safe environments where the Gospel of Jesus Christ can flourish. This means ensuring that clergy, employees, volunteers, and the young are aware of healthy boundaries and the societal problem of sexual abuse. It also means creating an environment for and implementing productive steps to promote a healthy clergy.

Anyone having knowledge of sexual abuse within a parish should call the proper authorities, and is encouraged to notify the archdiocese’s Victim Assistance Coordinator at 651-291-4497.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
KSTP

Suit: Priest Admitted Abuse, Stayed Active

By: Cassie Hart

Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis released the following statement on Francis Hoefgen, a former priest of St. John’s Abbey who served in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in the mid-1980’s.

A lawsuit claims Francis Hoefgen was at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton church in Hastings when he molested the plaintiff, who was 10 to 13 years old at the time.

Statement Regarding Francis Hoefgen

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CANADA
The StarPhoenix

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS NOVEMBER 20, 2013

IQALUIT, Nunavut – A witness at a child abuse trial in the North is describing how a priest once used hunger to force children into sex.

The woman says her family in Igloolik, Nunavut, was sometimes hungry for days at a time between 1978 and 1982, the years when Eric Dejaeger (deh-YAY’-guhr) was the priest in the remote community.

She says her grandmother, who was raising her, often sent her to the church for a meal.

The witness says that after one such meal, when she was eight years old, Dejaeger took her upstairs and raped her.

She says she was bleeding after the assault and Dejaeger took her into the bathroom to clean herself up, then spread garbage bags on his bedroom couch so she wouldn’t stain it.

The witness says she told her grandmother about the rape, but the woman didn’t believe her.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Cases settle against a nun and a priest
Both abused kids elsewhere but worked in Chicago
SNAP blasts Catholic officials for “on-going secrecy”
It urges Cardinal George to add names to his predators’ list
Group also praises governor & lawmakers for “major child sex reform law”

What:
Holding signs and childhood photos, clergy sex abuse survivors and their supporters will

–disclose that two Catholic clerics – a nun and a priest – molested kids elsewhere but also worked in Chicago, (lawyers settled cases against both of the clerics,) and
–prod Chicago Catholic officials to add their names (and dozens of other child molesting clerics) to the list of such offenders on the archdiocesan website and update the list of Chicago area child molesting clerics regularly and publicly.

They will also
–praise Illinois’ governor and legislators for recently-enacted “major child safety reform” that will enable more child sex abuse victims to file criminal and civil cases against predators, and
–urge citizens, especially Catholics, to spread the word about the opportunity to seek justice in court.

When:
Wednesday, Nov. 20, 1:30 p.m.

Where:
On the sidewalk outside of the Archdiocese of Chicago (835 N Rush St, Chicago)

Who:
Three-four members of a support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), including a Chicago woman who is the organization’s founder and president.

Why:
Catholic officials have paid settlements to victims of two credibly accused child molesting clerics who worked in Chicago. Both clerics were exposed as abusers for the first time. Neither cleric has been publicly “outed” in the Chicago area until today.

1. In September, Fr. Victor Phelan was “named publicly as an alleged abuser for the first time” according to the Associated Press.

[BishopAccountability.org]

Fr. Phelan was “outed” by Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian (617-523-6250, 617-388-5252, garabedianlaw@msn.com). Garabedian reached a settlement with Catholic officials on behalf of a victim who was sexually assaulted by Fr. Phelan in Plainfield NJ in the Newark Archdiocese in 1977.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By PATRICK BYRNE Nov. 20, 2013

A PEAK body representing the Catholic Church’s response to clerical child sex abuse has called on all states to immediately adopt a national compensation framework for victims.

Speaking to The Courier before giving a speech at St Patrick’s Cathedral Hall last night, Truth Justice Healing Council chief executive officer, Francis Sullivan, said an independent compensation body was needed.

“I wrote yesterday, to all attorney generals in Australia, putting on their agenda that it’s time to put in place this national compensation scheme,” Mr Sullivan said.

“Not in, say, three or four years when the royal commission recommends it.

“I totally get that bit about people saying ‘well this is all very fine, but when are we going to see real action?’”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MARK SCHLIEBS THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 21, 2013

THE Catholic Church has dragged out for more than a year the case of a seriously ill abuse victim who is seeking substantially more than the $40,000 he received as part of a settlement in 2011.

This is despite an admission by the church that the man had been sodomised by several clerics.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CANADA
Sylvia’s Site

As everyone knows the Father Eric Dejaeger sex abuse trial in Iqaluit was cancelled today due to a raging blizzard which swept throught the area. Believe it or not, this is the same storm which devastated Washington Illinois, caused havoc and power outages in southern Ontario, roared through Quebec, and on up to Nunavut with a blizzard which shut down the entire community of Iqaluit. And yes, that was it for the trial. It was under way for the day, but shortly thereafter the weather deteriorated to a point that the trial was cancelled and courthouse was shut down.

Hopefully the snow plows will be running full tilt through the night and the roads of Iqaluit will be open for travel by morning. Right now the temperature is -23 C with blowing snow and reduced visibility. Conditions are expected to improve by morning.

Let’s cross our fingers that the case can proceed, and that those witnesses who were to finish testifying today can do so tomorrow and then get back home to their family and friends.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Phillip Aspinall, head of the Australian Anglican Church (known elsewhere as the Episcopalian Church or the Church of England), knew the details of the horrific abuse at his church’s North Coast Children’s Home for a long time, but did not intervene because he felt that the local diocese responsible was an “autonomous organisation.”

Prime Minister Tony Abbott could claim that Liberal MPs who disgraced themselves could ignore him because they were responsible to their local constituency committee. Similarly, President Obama could do the same with a corrupt Democrat congressman and U.K. Prime Minister Cameron could distance himself from a Conservative MP. Naturally, they would not do this, as no-one would believe they had no other influence over the problem lawmaker.

For Aspinall to claim no influence over disgraced Grafton bishop, Keith Slater (see previous posting) beggars belief. Yet, this is what his professional standards staffer, Rod McLary, told the Royal Commission today. Mr McLary claimed that Aspinall’s national role was “to encourage, offer counsel and attempt to persuade other bishops and archbishops on certain matters.”

Aspinall was, however, privy to the details of the abuse, from several quarters. Victim “Tommy” Campion had written him a long letter, and had a meeting with Aspinall, detailing the abuses. Lawyer Simon Harrison (see yesterday’s posting), who represented victims, had written to Aspinall, again detailing abuses. Mr Harrison told the enquiry that he was never told that Aspinall had been in touch with the then Bishop of Grafton, Keith Slater, and he would have expected to have correspondence from Aspinall telling him what he was doing.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MASSACHUSETTS
Southcoast Today

By Matt Camara
mcamara@s-t.com
November 20, 2013

NEW BEDFORD — About a dozen parishioners have formed a committee to reinstate the Rev. Marek Chmurski as the pastor of St. Lawrence Martyr Church and the parish remains divided over Bishop George W. Coleman’s decision to remove him.

“We strongly believe that there was no consensus by the congregation on the issues raised against Father Chmurski. We believe that documentations presented were not objectively written,” the group called Parishioners Seeking Justice for Father Chmurski wrote in a letter to The Standard-Times.

The group objects to an attempt by other parishioners who last year wrote the bishop concerned about Chmurski’s ministry.

The Fall River Diocese conducted a year-long inquiry into Chmurski’s ministry of St. Lawrence — New Bedford’s oldest parish — and removed him in a Sept. 30 decree. The decree came after the bishop had asked for Chmurski’s resignation the previous June.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

RUSSIA
Interfax

St. Petersburg, November 20, Interfax – Priest Gleb Grozovsky, who is accused of molesting schoolgirls, has been suspended from service for the period of the investigation into his case.

“He cannot administer service during this period,” the St. Petersburg Metropolia told Interfax-Religion on Tuesday.

An international search warrant has been issued for Father Gleg, who has been arrested in absentia by a Russian court.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PROVIDENCE (RI)
BishopAccountability.org
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

New records show accused Catholic priests are still in RI parishes
One of them, ousted this year, was accused months or years earlier
Groups say hundreds of abuse reports seem to be missing from police release
They call on AG and US Attorney to launch investigation of Providence diocese

WHAT
Holding poster-size blow-ups of selected documents, clergy sex abuse victims and a leader of a research/watchdog group will:

— point to new evidence that RI Catholic officials continue to keep accused priests in ministry without informing the public
— highlight “shocking revelations” in newly public records of alleged sex abuse by RI priests, and
— urge prosecutors to investigate whether the diocese’s retention of accused priests is putting minors at risk

WHEN
1:30pm, Wednesday, November 20

WHERE
Renaissance Providence Downtown Hotel
5 Avenue of the Arts [120 Francis St., if using GPS]
Providence, RI
Meeting room: The Handel Room, Temple Level

WHO
– Two survivors of sexual abuse by RI priests, including the New England spokesperson for SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)
– A leader of a national Catholic abuse research group based in MA

WHY
On Wednesday 11/19, a RI TV station made public a collection of 45 confidential sex abuse reports from the Providence diocese to the RI State Police. The letters were posted tonight on the website of WJAR-TV (Ch. 10 – NBC), which had obtained them from the State Police by filing a public records request. All 45 letters are signed by diocesan official Robert N. McCarthy, a retired state police lieutenant. Since 1992, McCarthy has handled all sex abuse allegations against Providence priests. See:

[NBC 10]

At the news conference, the survivors and researchers will point to letters that raise disturbing questions about three recent cases:

1. In a January 8, 2013 letter, McCarthy recounts confronting an active pastor about sexual misconduct allegations by three complainants. Two were age 16 and one was 18 when the alleged abuse occurred. McCarthy refers to an investigation he had conducted involving the priest and one of the complainants during a previous winter. Did that previous investigation concern possible sexual misconduct? Why wasn’t the priest removed from ministry then?

On January 13, 2013, the Providence diocese announced the removal of Rev. Barry Meehan, pastor of St. Timothy’s Church in Warwick RI, because of “a credible allegation of sexual misconduct that allegedly took place more than 25 years ago.” See:

[BishopAccountability.org]

Is Rev. Meehan the active pastor described by McCarthy in the January 8, 2013 letter? If so, why did the diocese tell the public that Meehan had only one alleged victim, when the letter indicates he was accused by three? And why did the diocese’s announcement about Meehan refer only to a recent allegation and not the situation that McCarthy had investigated in a previous winter?

If the January 8, 2013 letter refers to a different priest, who is he? And if the diocese has removed him, why hasn’t that been announced?

2. An April 17, 2012 letter reports allegations of child molestation by two brothers against a priest who appears to be running a RI parish today. Did the diocese or State Police investigate the allegations? On what basis did the diocese decide to retain the priest?

3. In a May 9, 2011 letter about possible recent sexual abuse of a female parishioner by an active Providence priest, McCarthy cites three previous reports about the priest, including a 1994 warning and a 2002 allegation that he had molested two high school girls. Given repeated signs that the priest was dangerous, why did the diocese allow him to stay in ministry for years? Who is he, and is he still active today?

Although the State Police redacted from the letters the names of priests, parishes, towns and dates, they did not black out the dioceses’s file numbers, which suggest an “astonishingly high number” of complaints, according to Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a MA-based research group that has studied the abuse crisis since 2003.

The gaps in the file numbers point to the fact that an “enormous number of abuse reports is missing from this collection,” says attorney Helen McGonigle. McGonigle was raped as a six-year-old in East Greenwich RI by the Rev. Brendan Smyth. She reported her abuse to the diocese in 2006 but no letter about her abuse is included in the new release.

As a measure of what is missing, the RI letters can be compared to a similar release of public records in New Hampshire. In 2009, the NH Attorney General’s office made public all the abuse reports it had received since 2003 from the Manchester NH diocese, which is smaller than Providence. The release included more than 125 complaints – and the AG chose to keep the names of most accused priests visible. In contrast, the reports to the State Police from the Providence diocese during the same period – 2003 to 2009 – total only 8. Where are the missing reports? See the Catholic abuse records released by the NH AG:

[BishopAccountability.org]

Finally, the letters reveal McCarthy’s “profound lack of respect for victims,” says Dr. Ann Hagan Webb, a licensed psychologist in RI and MA. Webb was sexually assaulted beginning at age five by Msgr. Anthony DeAngelis in West Warwick RI. In many of the letters, McCarthy provides gratuitous details about a victim’s unemployment, addictions or use of medication. These details seem intended to undermine the credibility of the complainant, Webb says.

For these four reasons – 1) the diocese’s persistence in keeping accused priests in ministry; 2) its high number of complaints; 3) the fact that they may have withheld many reports to the State Police; and 4) the disregard shown by its intake official for the truthfulness of victims – the state Attorney General and the US Attorney for Rhode Island must investigate the Providence diocese, the survivors and research group believe.

Common sense suggests that this diocese requires oversight, says Doyle. “Providence church officials are still taking chances with priests who have been reported for abuse. They are secretive and unaccountable. Rhode Island prosecutors should step in and investigate, as prosecutors have done in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Pennsylvania. The safety of children demands it.”

*
About BishopAccountability.org
Founded in 2003, BishopAccountability.org is the world’s largest public library of documents related to the abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church. An independent non-profit, it is not a victims’ advocacy group and is not affiliated with any church, reform, or victims’ organization.

About SNAP
SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988, is based in Chicago and has more than 12,000 members in 65 nations (but we have heard from victims in more than 100 countries). Despite the word “priest” in our title, we help people who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org.

CONTACT

Anne Barrett Doyle, BishopAccountability.org, barrett.doyle@comcast.net, 781-439-5208 cell
Dr. Ann Hagan Webb, RI Abuse Survivor & Spokesperson for SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, annhaganwebb@gmail.com, 617-513-8442 cell
Helen McGonigle, Attorney and RI Abuse Survivor, 203-300-2107 cell
Terence McKiernan, BishopAccountability.org, mckiernan1@comcast.net, 508-479-9304

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NEDERLAND
KNR

S-HERTOGENBOSCH – UTRECHT – De voorzitters van Bisschoppenconferentie en Konferentie Nederlandse Religieuzen (KNR) maken bekend dat er een sluitingsdatum komt per 1 juli 2014 voor meldingen en het indienen van klachten inzake seksueel misbruik tegen overledenen en klachten betreffende seksueel misbruik dat verjaard is.

De Bisschoppenconferentie en KNR treden op korte termijn in overleg met de slachtoffergroepen en Beheer en Toezicht (B&T) inzake de uitwerking. De Bisschoppenconferentie en KNR hechten aan een zorgvuldige voorbereiding en een stappenplan dat met de slachtoffergroepen is opgesteld. Er moeten belangrijke randvoorwaarden worden vervuld, zo hebben de slachtoffergroepen de Bisschoppenconferentie en de KNR laten weten. Nu reeds roepen de Bisschoppenconferentie en de KNR slachtoffers op zich te melden, indien zij dit nog niet hebben gedaan.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Convicted pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale will be sentenced next year after pleading guilty to new child sex charges.

The defrocked Catholic priest was formally arraigned in the Victorian County Court on Wednesday, pleading guilty to 28 counts of indecent assault, one count of carnal knowledge of a child and one count of buggery.

Ridsdale has admitted abusing three girls and 11 boys between the 1960s and 1980, when he was parish priest at churches in regional Victoria and Melbourne.

Ridsdale, 79, is serving a long jail sentence for multiple child sex offences.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

November 20, 2013

The 49-yr-old businessman has been charged with three offences of gross indecency on young boys aged 12, 14 and 16 over 20 years ago.

Hayman left Sydney to live in the USA and indictment has cast a shadow over those responsible for running Sydney’s Yeshiva Centre where Hayman met his alleged victims.

A spokesperson for the Yeshiva Centre told J-Wire that Hayman did act as a volunteer at Yeshiva events and camps but was never employed by them.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

November 20, 2013

Emma Partridge
Crime Reporter

A businessman accused of sexually assaulting under-age boys he met through Bondi’s Yeshiva Centre was expected to return to his family home in Los Angeles after $1 million was posted for his bail

Daniel Robert Hayman, 49, was granted permission to leave the country despite being charged with a third offence, relating to the indecent assault of a 12-year-old.

Documents tendered to the court reveal he “exposed his naked body” to the young boy in the 1980s.

Mr Hayman appeared before Waverley Local Court on Wednesday charged with a further two counts of gross indecency against two males, aged 14 and 16.

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AUSTRALIA
Maribymong Weekly

By Goya Dmytryshchak

An Altona Meadows woman who spoke at last week’s Rally of Hope at Victoria’s Parliament House has criticised Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s defence of Cardinal George Pell over the Catholic Church’s handling of child sex abuse.

Mairead Ashcroft addressed Wednesday’s rally (pictured), which coincided with the tabling of a state government report on clergy and non-religious institutions’ child sex abuse.

Ms Ashcroft gave evidence before the Victorian inquiry into the handling of child abuse that she had been abused by Catholic brother Bernard Hartman, from age 8 to 11.

Hartman, 73, has been charged with 14 counts of indecent assault and is scheduled to face court next Thursday.

The day after the rally, Mr Abbott told Fairfax radio that he ‘‘had a lot of time for Cardinal Pell”. Mr Abbott said he hadn’t read the parliamentary report, which states Cardinal Pell’s evidence revealed “a reluctance to acknowledge and accept responsibility for the Catholic Church’s institutional failure to respond appropriately to allegations of criminal child abuse”.

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DELAWARE
The News Journal

[with video]

Written by
Sean O’Sullivan
The News Journal

WILMINGTON — A federal jury awarded $2.4 million Monday to a New Jersey man who was repeatedly sexually abused by a Marist brother some 30 years ago.

Brian Elliott, 44, of Cedar Knolls, N.J., testified that Damian Galligan, a member of the Marist Catholic religious order, sexually abused him starting in 1977 when Elliott was 8 years old and continued until he was 14.

Two of those hundreds of incidents of abuse occurred in Delaware in the summer of 1981 when Galligan took the young Elliott on a trip across state lines to visit Washington, D.C., which is what brought the case to the U.S. District Court in Delaware.

While Elliott said he was abused by Galligan in at least four states – including New Jersey where he lived, New York where Galligan lived and Virginia – it was only in Delaware that Elliott could file a civil suit.

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DELAWARE
The Star-Ledger

By Jeff Goldman/The Star-Ledger
on November 19, 2013

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Morris County man said he doesn’t expect to see any of the $2.4 million a Delaware court awarded him Monday for being sexually abused as a child by a cleric in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Brian Elliott, 44, of the Cedar Knolls section of Hanover Township said he was abused by Brother Damian Galligan from 1977 until about 1981, according to a report on DelawareOnline.com. Galligan admitted in a 2012 video deposition that he abused Elliott during a trip to Washington D.C.

The abuse also took place “hundreds, if not thousands” of other times, the report said.

The jury in Delaware ordered that Elliott receive $1.4 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.

Galligan, 86, lives in a retirement home in St. Louis and is thought to have few significant assets, the report said.

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DELAWARE
USA Today

A federal jury Monday awarded $2.4 million to a New Jersey man who was repeatedly sexually abused by a Marist brother some 30 years ago. This portion of the video deposition of Brother Damian Galligan was played for the jury. The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

ALL Catholics must take action on child sex abuse, the head of the body set-up to represent the Catholic Church says.

Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive Francis Sullivan said the various inquiries into abuse provided an opportunity to reform the church and address a scandal that has driven people from it for so long.

The church has been at the centre of three inquiries, including the now-concluded Victorian inquiry, the royal commission and a NSW inquiry into abuse in the Diocese of Maitland and Newcastle.

Mr Sullivan said community disgust and outrage will be unleashed as the inquiries continue, but all Catholics could work to restore trust in the institution with “action and authenticity”.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A royal commission has heard a witness saw a young girl pinned down and gang raped by five older boys at the Anglican-run NSW orphanage at the centre of abuse allegations.

A former resident of the Lismore children’s home has told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse sitting in Sydney he witnessed the attack and was scared into silence.

The witness, known as CD, says he arrived at the North Coast Children’s Home aged six, and was regularly whipped with a pony whip and cane by matron Jean O’Neill.

He says he once saw a group of about five older boys pin down one of the young girls who lived in the home, and they all raped her.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Ashleigh Raper

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard an alleged victim threatened suicide during a lengthy compensation battle with the Anglican Church.

The commission this week began its third round of public hearings, this time to examine the alleged sexual and physical abuse of up to 200 children at the North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore.

The hearing will consider what happened at the home and how the Anglican Diocese of Grafton responded to allegations of abuse.

Solicitor Simon Harrison was holding negotiations with the head of the Anglican Church, Dr Phillip Aspinall over a compensation settlement.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 20, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

Victoria Police evidence about child sexual abuse that savaged the Catholic Church was unfair and an attempt by the force to distance itself from its own failures, a state government report says.

It took 16 years, and issues becoming public, before police paid attention to the fundamental problems in the way the church in Melbourne dealt with complaints – a process to which police had originally agreed – the report says.

Betrayal of Trust, the report of the parliamentary inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse, was tabled last week.

In testimony to the inquiry last October, police accused the church of deliberately impeding their investigations into child abuse, dissuading victims from reporting to police, failing to engage with police, protecting sexual offenders and alerting suspects of allegations against them.

Police also attacked the Melbourne Response independent commissioner, Peter O’Callaghan, QC, and complained that not one case had been referred to them.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ADRIENNE FRANCIS – ABC
November 20, 2013

The new Catholic archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn says the church could do more to support victims of child sexual abuse.

Former Victorian bishop Christopher Prowse has been installed as the new Catholic archbishop during a solemn mass at St Christopher’s Cathedral in Forrest.

In delivering the homily, Archbishop Prowse mentioned the Royal Commission and parliamentary inquiries into child sexual abuse, telling the packed congregation he truly felt for its victims.

“We can always do a lot more,” he said.

“First of all, we have got to listen to their stories. I think we need to really improve on that.

“The victims, these courageous and brave people, coming out to share their horrendous stories and we want to stand alongside them and be supportive of them in these fragile times.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Legal fight like being ‘raped’ again, child abuse victim tells Royal Commission

Dan Box
From: The Australian
November 20, 2013

A VICTIM of child abuse, who was repeatedly raped as a young girl while living in a children’s home, has said the experience of dealing legally with the Anglican church about what took place “was like being raped all over again.”

In a written statement read to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse this morning, the woman said she was seven when she entered the home in the Anglican Diocese of Grafton, northern NSW.

“It smelt terrible, like faeces, and there was vomit on the ground. I could see about twenty-odd children, all dirty.

“It was horrific. I felt that I couldn’t protect myself or my sister … I was told, and I heard other children being told, that we were ‘dirty little heathens’,” her statement said.

Decades later, the woman joined roughly 40 other former residents seeking compensation from the church, which spent years challenging their claims and denying any liability for what happened at the home.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 20, 2013

Barney Zwartz

Ordinary Catholics have to take responsibility for the church as it emerges from the abuse crisis and tries to rebuild trust, says church spokesman Francis Sullivan.

In a speech on Wednesday evening in Ballarat – deliberately chosen as one of the regional centres most scarred by clergy sexual abuse – Mr Sullivan said the church was at a critical juncture and warned that revelations soon to emerge at the royal commission would dishearten and disillusion Catholics around the country.

“Community disgust and outrage will again be unleashed,” he said.

The royal commission next month begins a public session examining the Catholic response Towards Healing, and how the church dealt with four separate victims.

The Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled clergy child sexual abuse was scathing about the church in its report last week, and the church has since endorsed the report’s wide-ranging recommendations for legal and other reforms.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

BY ANNETTE BLACKWELL AAP NOVEMBER 20, 2013

PROTECTING investors in a multimillion-dollar diocesan investment fund debt took priority over the claims of abuse victims from a NSW Anglican children’s home, an inquiry has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney was told on Wednesday that the Diocese of Grafton was $12 million in debt after building a private school at Clarence Valley, which never attracted enough students.

The diocese has been accused of mishandling compensation settlements and claims from people who were brutally abused from the 1940s to 1980s at a Church of England orphanage in Lismore.

In evidence by video link, Anthony Newby said when he became registrar at Grafton in October 2010 the school debt was not being serviced.

An oversight committee was set up to open lines of credit involving other dioceses – not an easy task as only two, Perth and Adelaide, eventually came on board.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

John Croman

ST. PAUL, Minn. — In his latest John Doe sex abuse lawsuit, attorney Jeffrey Anderson targets a former Twin Cities priest and the order he belonged to until 2011, based at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville.

The plaintiff is a man who alleges he was sexually abused between 1989 and 1992 by Father Francis Hoefgen, who at the time served at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Hastings.

Anderson and his legal team maintain that Hoefgen should’ve been kept from taking that post in Hastings based on his prior behavior in a different parish.

The alleged victim said the abuse started when he was 10 and ended when he was 13, at the same time Hoefgen was reassigned to another church facility in Frontenac.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Royal commission into child sexual abuse hears more harrowing evidence against Anglican Diocese of Grafton

MATTHEW BENNS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH NOVEMBER 20, 2013

THE whoosh of the riding crop and the screams of the children echoed through the corridors of the Anglican Church children’s home, the royal commission into child sexual abuse heard yesterday.

“I remember hearing the whoosh of the riding crop every time Matron hit the child,” a victim from the former North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore said in a statement read to the commission.

“The whoosh noise filled me with intense fear,” said the victim, who can only be identified as CM.

Matron Jean O’Neill would take children into her office and close the door. “I heard her whipping children in her office with the crop and the children screaming.

“I would be whipped for the most trivial things like not using my manners,” said CM, who was seven when first whipped with the leather covered, steel riding crop. “It would leave red marks, bruises and cuts on me which sometimes took two weeks to heal.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

The Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse has been told that the Anglican Church took a hardline and antagonistic approach to dealing with abuse victims from the North Coast Children’s Home. An advisor to the Anglican Primate of Australia told the inquiry that there was concern about how the diocese was handling the negotiations, but couldn’t intervene.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: The child abuse Royal Commission has heard that the Anglican Church took a harsh and antagonistic approach to victims of abuse from the New South Wales North Coast Children’s Home.

The inquiry’s been told that the Grafton Diocese which ran the home took a legal hard line against compensation claims by the former residents of the orphanage.

The lawyer representing the group said the Grafton Diocese had “gone rogue” and the Church’s key negotiator had “an attitude of machismo on par with Clint Eastwood.”

A warning: some parts of Emily Bourke’s report may distress some listeners.

EMILY BOURKE: The Royal Commission has heard more shocking accounts from survivors of abuse at the North Coast Children’s home.

A statement from witness CN was read to the inquiry.

CN (read statement): I was raped three times by older boys who lived in the home. I was told and I heard other children being told by staff that we were dirty little heathens. I was told I was bad and horrible. I was made to feel worthless by the people in the home.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 11/19/2013

A former Hastings priest and St. John’s Abbey are among defendants in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by a Minnesota man who alleges the priest sexually abused him after “graduating” from a sex-offender treatment facility.

The plaintiff, now in his 30s, also sued the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the treatment center, St. Luke Institute of Silver Spring, Md.

Francis Hoefgen admitted to police in 1984 that he sexually abused a minor, then was assigned the next year to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton church in Hastings after an evaluation at the institute, said the plaintiff’s attorney, Jeff Anderson, of St. Paul, in a statement.

Hoefgen sexually abused the plaintiff, identified as John Doe 27, at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton from about 1989 to 1992, the suit claimed. The boy was then 10 to 13 years old.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

Written by
David Unze

The file containing details of the investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by the Rev. Fran Hoefgen likely was destroyed in the 1990s as part of a routine purging of records from cases in which no charges were filed.

Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall released two documents Tuesday from the state Department of Administration that showed that numerous adult and juvenile case files in which no charges were filed were ordered destroyed in two document purges, one in May 1996 and the other in February 1998.

Then-County Attorney Roger Van Heel was listed as the person reporting the document destruction to the state in one instance and First Assistant County Attorney Patrick Strom was the reporting party in the other instance.

The county attorney’s office has case files dating back to the 1960s, said Mike Lieberg, head of that office’s criminal division, but those are files in which criminal charges were filed.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

[with video]

By: Scott Theisen
A Minnesota man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest from 1989 through 1992 sued the Twin Cities archdiocese, St. John’s Abbey and a center that treats clergy with psychological issues on Tuesday.

The lawsuit claims Francis Hoefgen, a former monk and priest, was at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton church in Hastings when he molested the plaintiff, who was 10 to 13 years old at the time. It alleges the defendants were negligent and should have known Hoefgen was a danger because he admitted to abusing a teenage boy just a few years earlier. It also alleges church officials didn’t warn Hoefgen’s new parish about the risk.

“This is quite disturbing, quite alarming. But also quite familiar and quite typical,” said Jeff Anderson, an attorney for the plaintiff, who’s identified in the lawsuit as Doe 27. “All of these entities made conscious choices to conceal, instead of reveal, the truth about the hazard and because of it, countless kids were hurt.”

Hoefgen did not return a message seeking comment. His attorney, Robert Stich, said Tuesday he had just received the complaint and was in the process of analyzing it.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

[with video]

By: Leslie Dyste
A Minnesota man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest from 1989 through 1992 sued the Twin Cities archdiocese, St. John’s Abbey and a center that treats clergy with psychological issues on Tuesday.

The lawsuit claims Francis Hoefgen was at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton church in Hastings when he molested the plaintiff, who was 10 to 13 years old at the time. It alleges the defendants should have known Hoefgen was a danger because he admitted to abusing another boy just a few years earlier. It also alleges church officials didn’t warn Hoefgen’s new parish about the risk.

“This is quite disturbing, quite alarming. But also quite familiar and quite typical,” said Jeff Anderson, an attorney for the plaintiff, who’s identified in the lawsuit as Doe 27. “All of these entities made conscious choices to conceal, instead of reveal, the truth about the hazard and because of it, countless kids were hurt.”

Click here to watch ‘part 2’ of the news conference.
Click here to read the full story.

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CANADA
CBC News

The defence lawyer for a priest facing dozens of sex abuse charges involving Inuit children is questioning the memory and motivation of the complainants.

Eric Dejaeger faces 68 charges related to the sexual abuse of children in Igloolik three decades ago. Yesterday, he pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent assault.

This morning, Dejaeger’s defense lawyer Malcolm Kempt cross-examined a 43-year-old woman who says the accused taped her face-down by her wrists and feet to a bed frame and violated her when she was a little girl.

Kempt asked the witness what Dejaeger was wearing at the time and requested she outline specific events around the attack. He also queried her about a $16,000 out-of-court settlement she got from the Catholic Church.

Kempt has said the memory and credibility of alleged victims about events 30 years ago are key to Dejaeger’s defence.

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